Barricades are often provided in city streets to divert traffic. For example, barricades may be provided in city streets when there are potholes in the streets or when there are other impediments blocking the flow of traffic in such streets. Such barricades are dangerous unless they are identified to approaching traffic in some visible way. The danger is significantly increased at night because the visibility ahead of the approaching car is decreased.
Barricade warning lights are generally provided in front of the barricades to warn approaching traffic of such barricades. The barricade warning lights are generally mounted on the barricades so that the lights are raised a specified distance from the ground. Such barricade warning lights have been used for decades. They generally include a photocell for sensing the onset of nighttime and of daytime. A light in the assembly then becomes illuminated, either on a continuous or a flashing basis, during the period in which darkness occurs.
The barricade lights now in use have certain significant disadvantages. They are inefficient in producing and transmitting the amber light whose purpose is to warn approaching vehicles. They suffer outdated optical designs. They include limited life incandescent lamps which consume excessive power in producing an abundance of broad spectrum light, a large measure of which is subsequently wasted by filtering this spectrum to emit the amber wavelength needed in the application. The incandescent lamps now in use radiate their power radially. This causes additional loss of energy. The barricade lights now in use are also subject to lamp filament failure due to mechanical shock in a typical roadway, repair and construction setting.
Present barricade lights utilize two large "lantern batteries" which demonstrate comparable though somewhat shorter operating longevities in comparison to the batteries used in invention. These batteries in the barricade lights now in use are housed in a typically plastic enclosure secured and affixed to the barricade by a relatively large bolt whose head bears a specialized configuration not operable by other than a rather large and bulky wrenchlike implement. Field maintenance and/or replacement of heavy, bulky batteries or the incandescent lamp requires this specialized wrench to be available and to be utilized in a time consuming procedure. Excessive time by the maintenance staff in maintenance during field operations increases exposure to traffic related accidents and injuries.
Therefore there is not only a significant cost and a considerable safety risk associated with field battery replacement (maintenance) of the present devices but the "special wrench" is needed to remove the device from the barricade prior to beginning any maintenance procedure. Once removed, the disassembly of the battery case to replace batteries requires more items to be disassembled than two hands can hold, resulting in dropped and lost parts. As a result, in a majority of cases, field maintenance is avoided and the entire barricade/warning light assembly is retrieved and returned to the shop any service, maintenance and repair. The result is that 20% or more of the warning light in the field are inoperable due to inadequate or no service. A common solution is to place an excessive number of warning lights on a job site to compensate for the high percentage of inoperable units.
Current products are relatively large and bulky and have an odd shape which does not permit stacking or easy storage. The current usage of the traditional older Lantern Battery technology also results in significant disposal in landfills of volumes of potentially hazardous and undesirable battery materials. Furthermore, a variety of externally accessible fasteners is typically used to assemble portions of the currently available products. Because of this, they provide a temptation to mischievous or ill intentioned people to tamper with the lights. This often further limits the longevity of the lights.
The problems discussed above have existed for decades without any significant improvement in such lights. Considerable efforts have been made, and significant amounts of money have been spent, to provide a barricade warning light which overcomes the above difficulties. In spite of this, the same problems still persist.